When I took a genetics class at Clemson, way back in the ‘70’s, it was a new field. One day our professor had all of us eat some canned asparagus. Next time we met, he quizzed us about how many of us noticed a change in the smell of our urine. A good many of us raised our hands.
At that time, scientists thought only certain people’s urine was affected, now it seems that they probably affect most everyone’s output but only certain people have the gene to smell it The inability to smell this is considered a specific anosmia – which means you can’t detect a certain odor. Put the blame on a compound called asparagusic acid which when broken down in our digestive system very quickly, within fifteen minutes, puts out that sulfurous odor.
